Brother of man who dismembered boy found dead in home with gruesome history

Man discovered in closet of house with grisly history

Colleen Long, Associated Press

June 3, 2017

Photo: Seth Wenig, STF

Image 1of/3

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 3

FILE - In this July 14, 2011 file photo, crime scene investigators collect evidence from the home of Levi Aron, who later pleaded guilty to abducting and killing 8-year-old boy Leiby Kletzky, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. On Friday, June 2, 2017, a law enforcement official said Levi's brother, Tzvi Aron, was found dead, his body bound, wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a basement closet in the same Brooklyn home where detectives uncovered the remains of the boy. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) less

FILE - In this July 14, 2011 file photo, crime scene investigators collect evidence from the home of Levi Aron, who later pleaded guilty to abducting and killing 8-year-old boy Leiby Kletzky, in the Brooklyn ... more

Photo: Seth Wenig, STF

Image 2 of 3

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2011 file photo, Levi Aron, accused of abducting and dismembering eight-year-old boy Leiby Kletzky, is arraigned in Brooklyn criminal court in New York. He later pleaded guilty. On Friday, June 2, 2017, a law enforcement official said Levi's brother, Tzvi Aron, was found dead, his body bound, wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a basement closet in the same Brooklyn home where detectives uncovered the remains of the boy. (AP Photo/Jesse Ward, Pool, File) less

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2011 file photo, Levi Aron, accused of abducting and dismembering eight-year-old boy Leiby Kletzky, is arraigned in Brooklyn criminal court in New York. He later pleaded guilty. On ... more

Photo: Jesse Ward, POOL

Image 3 of 3

Levi Aron, center, ﻿pleaded guilty to charges he abducted and dismembered 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, who became lost in Brooklyn in July 2011.﻿

Levi Aron, center, ﻿pleaded guilty to charges he abducted and dismembered 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, who became lost in Brooklyn in July 2011.﻿

Photo: Richard Drew, POOL

Brother of man who dismembered boy found dead in home with gruesome history

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

NEW YORK - The brother of a man who kidnapped and dismembered a lost 8-year-old boy has been found dead, his body bound, wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a basement closet in the same Brooklyn home where detectives uncovered the gruesome remains of the boy nearly six years ago.

Detectives found Tzvi Aron's body after police were called there by family, a law enforcement official said.

Aron, 29, a bakery worker, had been last seen Tuesday. The death is being investigated as a homicide; Aron had been recently threatened but it wasn't clear why, the official said. The medical examiner will determine a cause of death. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Tzvi's brother, Levi Aron, pleaded guilty in the kidnapping and killing of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky in July 2011.

Translator

To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below.

Leiby got lost on his walk home from a religious day camp. It was the first time he was allowed to walk alone, and he was supposed to travel about seven blocks to meet his mother but missed his turn. He ran into Levi Aron on the street, who promised to take Leiby home.

A massive search for the boy was launched in Borough Park section of Brooklyn, home to one of the world's largest communities of Orthodox Jews outside of Israel. Thousands of volunteers from the Hasidic community had assembled to comb the streets.

When Aron noticed flyers plastered on lampposts with the boy's photo, he says he got spooked, went home and suffocated the boy, police said.

A toxicology report found Leiby also had been drugged.

Detectives found the boy's severed feet, wrapped in plastic, in a freezer at Aron's home, about 2 miles from the boy's home.

A cutting board and three bloody carving knives were found in the refrigerator. The rest of the boy's body was discovered in bags inside a red suitcase in a trash bin about a mile from the home. His legs had been cut from his torso.

Levi Aron is serving 40 years to life in prison.

In the years since, his family remained at the home in Brooklyn, which is divided into apartments. Tzvi lived in the basement apartment; Levi had lived on the top floor. Another brother lives there. The family's mother died from cancer and a sister, Sarah, died while institutionalized with schizophrenia before Levi Aron was arrested, according Levi Aron's psychiatric report obtained by the AP.

Tzvi Aron defended his family at the time his brother was arrested, saying they were unaware of Levi's acts.

"People who know us know we're a good family," he told the Daily News of New York at the time.

Over the years they've received dozens of death threats after the horrifying killing. On Friday, police once again cordoned off the cream-colored home, in Brooklyn's Kensington neighborhood, as a crime scene.

"It was spooky," neighbor Kathleen Henderson told the Daily News. "Everyone keeps an eye an on that house for obvious reasons. No one trusted them after that incident with the little boy."